266 



Bulletin 238. 



alternate, triangular-heart-shaped, slightly longer than broad, varying 

 from two to four inches in length, borne on a pedicel varying from nearly 

 sessile to four inches in length. The flowers are white, tinged with red 

 or pink and are borne on the end of the stem or on a slender pedicel 

 springing from the axils of the leaves. They are without petals, but 

 the sepals of the calyx have the appearance of petals and the bloom is 

 so abundant that fields of buckwheat make a beautiful appearance. There 

 are eight stamens and one three parted pistil. On threshing the ripened 

 grain, the calyx remains attached at the base of the grain. Two forms 

 of flowers are produced, — one wath long stamens and short styles, and 

 the other with short stamens and long styles. Though each plant bears 

 but one form of flower the seeds from either form will produce plants 

 bearing both forms. This arrangement is believed to facilitate the cross- 

 ing between plants by means of insect visitation. The grain of buckwheat 

 consists of a single seed inclosed in a pericarp, of the kind known to 

 botanists as an akene. The paricarp or hull is thick, hard, smooth and 

 shining, and varies in color from silver gray to brown or black. It sepa- 

 rates readily from its contents. In form the grain is a triangular pyramid 

 with rounded base. The usual length of the grain is from three-six- 

 teenths to three-eighths and the width from one-eighth to three-sixteenths 

 inch. 



In States of chief production, the legal weight of buckwheat is forty- 

 eight pounds per bushel. In some others it varies from fort}- to fifty-six 

 pounds. 



Composition. — The following table, compiled by Professor T. F. 

 Hunt, in " The Cereals in America," shows the composition of the grain, 

 straw, flour, middlings and hulls of buckwheat: 



Number of analyses. 



Water 



Ash 



Protein (Nx6.25) 



Crude fiber 



Nitrogen-free extract 

 Fat 



Hulls. 



1 



3 

 10 



2 



4.6 



44.7 



37.7 



.9 



Owing to its thick, heavy hull, buckwheat contains a larger percentage 

 of crude fiber than the cereal grains. The percentage of protein and 

 nitrogen-free extract is somewhat lower than in the case of wheat. 

 Buckwheat flour contains only about two-thirds as much protein as wheat 

 flour. The straw of buckwheat contains a somewhat higher percentage 



